He pulled off of the highway onto a country road, driving for a few miles before hitting the river. The view was beautiful, with tall grass complimenting the water and blowing in the breeze.
“A shame we didn’t bring our fishing poles,” Dante said. “Looks like a nice day for it.”
“Well, if we get Maddox on our side, I’m sure he has a private spot for you to get your fishing fix,” Ace replied. “If you think I’m a country boy, whooo, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
He drove along a small road running near the river for a few miles. Dante soaked in the beauty, which he knew was going to be in short supply that day, or really for the foreseeable future. Eventually, the truck slowed to a crawl in the middle of the road.
“It’s still a little further up,” Lily said.
Her cousin shook his head. “Nah, we’re close, Lil,” he insisted.
“I’m telling you, the turnoff is still a ways up,” she snapped.
Ace rolled his eyes. “And I’m telling you that ever since you threatened to feed his foot long to him, that he put in a new entrance,” he replied.
She scoffed again. “Foot long?” She clucked her tongue. “That thing barely qualified as a lil’ smokie.”
Dante chuckled under his breath.
“There it is!” Ace cried, and turned off of the road, rolling through a narrow ditch through a small opening in the trees. As soon as they cleared it, they found themselves on a dirt road that wove its way through the forest.
“Pretty impressive for a small town drug dealer,” Dante said. “If you didn’t know what you were looking for you’d drive right past it.”
Lily nodded. “My guess is, that was his brother’s doing,” she said. “Tate ain’t a lot of things, but he has their security on lockdown.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Ace agreed, pointing up ahead at an eight-foot tall fence with barbed wire coming across the road and weaving into the woods. There was a call box by the entrance.
Lily’s eyebrows raised as she appraised the setup. “Looks like they’ve really upgraded their operation,” she said.
“Either that or Maddox is extremely protective of his…” Dante paused and smirked. “Ahem. Goods.”
Lily laughed as Ace pulled up to the call box. He reached out and hit the button, and it ran a few times before a hoarse voice floated through the speaker.
“Sorry, but we’re not entertaining company at the moment,” somebody said in a slow, lazy drawl. “However, if you’re a customer, please note that we now only accept canned goods and nudie magazines. Tell me what you got, and I’ll tell you what you can get.”
Ace furrowed his brow. “Who in the hell is this?” he demanded
“This is Henry man,” the guy said brightly. “Now what can I get you?”
“You can get me Maddox,” the redneck said firmly. “That’s what you can get.”
There was a sigh through the speaker. “Aw man,” Henry whined, “he’s like, in the other room and stuff.”
“Then go get him,” Ace demanded.
“Well, I… uh…” Henry stammered.
“Now!” Ace yelled.
“All right, all right,” the stoner drawled with another sigh. “Just chill, man. Who should I say is calling?”
The redneck leaned his head against the headrest. “Tell him it’s Ace.”
Henry snorted. “You’re named after a playing card.”
Ace put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. He was just about to yell again when the line clicked off. After half a minute, he grunted in frustration.
“That dumbass has about ten seconds before I drive on through this fence and whoop his ass,” he growled.
Dante chuckled. “Might need to give him a little more time than that,” he suggested. “He didn’t sound like he could find the couch he was lying on.”
“Maddox’s stuff isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for damn sure,” Ace muttered.
Finally the call box clicked on, and an irritated voice came through. “Who in the hell is this?” Maddox snapped. “I just wanna know whose ass to whoop next time I see ‘em.”
“Boy, you’ve been trying since eighth grade to get the best of me,” Ace said playfully. “Didn’t happen then, ain’t gonna happen today.”
“Holy shit, is that Ace?” came the surprised reply.
The redneck rolled his eyes. “Who the fuck else would be coming to see your dumb ass in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?” he asked.
“Zombie what?” Maddox said with a laugh. “Shit man, I was gonna offer you something to smoke, but it sounds like you’ve been toking it up already.”
Ace shook his head. “I wish,” he replied. “So, you gonna let me in so I can tell you what’s going on?”
“Yeah, come on up, brother,” the dealer replied, and the call box buzzed as the gate slowly moved open.
Ace hit the gas when the door was clear and sped down the dirt road towards the house. They came around a bend into a clearing with a double-wide trailer sitting about fifty yards away from the river. To one side was a large greenhouse that was twice the size of the trailer.
Off to the side facing the water were three large solar panel arrays with cables leading to the buildings.
Dante blinked, reluctantly impressed. “The weed business must be booming for him to be able to afford all that,” he said.
“Living in the middle of nowhere it’s either pot or meth,” Ace explained, “and luckily there’s a lot of health conscious people in town.”
Lily nodded. “There’s also an art school up the road in Savannah,” she added, “which doesn’t hurt sales either.”
The trio got out of the truck, and she hung back a bit, walking behind them as Maddox stepped out of the trailer, flanked by two men and a woman.
“It’s been a while, brother,” Maddox said, spreading his arms.
Ace shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been a minute.”
“Now, why you been treating me like a stranger, huh?” the dealer asked.
Lily stepped out from behind Dante, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
Maddox’s smile dropped from his face immediately. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Really?” she asked. “That’s all you have to say?”
“You better check your attitude, skank!” the
